


Magpie in the Mirror

by bluetoast



Series: Birds of a Feather [76]
Category: Supernatural, Supernatural Novels - Various
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Misery Loves Company, Saving People Hunting Things, Siblings, children of Dean, everyone's world is different, food is a plot point, this isn't what you're expecting
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-04
Updated: 2017-07-04
Packaged: 2018-11-23 11:13:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,450
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11401347
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bluetoast/pseuds/bluetoast
Summary: Heather Kittridge knows about her siblings in other realities. Michael told her while she was possessed by him when she thirteen. What she didn't expect was to meet any of them. Least of all her half-angelic brother, Liam, to come knock on her door four days before Christmas and tell her he needed her help to stop a fey plot.She definitely wasn't expecting him to tell her that they needed to go to their sister Liesel's world to do it.Written for HC Bingo - prompt; crucifixion





	Magpie in the Mirror

**Author's Note:**

> Heather's Origin Story - Requiem for Snow  
> Liam's Origin Story - A Subtle Touch of Grace

The only color in the drawings were the occupant's eyes. One with green, two with brown, one with hazel, and three with blue. The brown eyes matched, and the green and hazel eyes almost matched – but the blue eyes – were all a different shade. All three were girls – and all three had different hair color, different noses, different in all most every way – until you paused and realized – all of them had the same cheekbones, and the same paint spatter of freckles across them. 

Heather Kittridge reached out and adjusted the second to last frame, smiling weakly as she stepped back to look at the collection. She had only met one person in these pictures, and there was only one other in these images that she _theoretically_ could meet. “Seven siblings, never sit at a table together.” She huffed, blowing a stray lock of hair from her face and drained the last of her coffee. “Me, Junta, Ben, Sara, Garnet, Liesel, Liam.” She grimaced and walked back to the kitchen. “I wonder if there's a safe way to contact a fey. Junta and I could have a splendid time talking.” 

“I had a great day work, you guys.” She tugged the elastic holding the bun at the base of her skull free and ran her fingers through her hair, padding across the hardwood in her socks, stopping at the long aquarium near the front door, where two fish swam on opposite sides of the tank. “You two didn't watch anything you shouldn't, did you? Or did you guys have an argument?” Smiling, she went back to the entry where she'd left her bag. “It's always a good day when the alarm rings less than five times.” She glanced back at the fish. “Don't suppose you started dinner either, did you?” 

She dug her phone out of the bag and, after double checking the locks on the door, headed for the kitchen, setting it down on the counter and putting it on speaker to check her messages while she filled the electric kettle.

“Hi, Heather, it's Nate. Guess you're not coming back to Sioux Falls again this Christmas. It's been a while since we've seen you up here. My parents have no problem with letting you stay, in case you change your mind. Call me.” Her friend's voice sounded about as tired as she felt. She knew she was welcome at her best friend and cousin's home – but she also knew that Dean and Sam were going to be visiting Bobby for the holiday – and she wanted to avoid a confrontation. True, Sioux Falls was big enough that they could all be up there at the same time and not run into each other – in theory. It was the idea of it, and holidays were tense enough already. Besides, if she stayed here, someone at the station who had a family could spend Christmas with their kids and other loved ones.

Not that she'd lived at Uncle Bobby's all that long. 

Almost as soon as seventh grade ended, he'd bundled her off to live with Sheriff Mills, _Aunt Jodi,_ and she only saw the man at important events after that. Graduation. Basketball games. He'd turn up on her birthday too, if he was in town. She understood why Uncle Bobby was like that; and his home wasn't exactly the ideal for anyone. He put some effort into the whole uncle thing, however, letting her rebuild a Cadillac sedan that had been new the year she was born; she'd started working on it in eighth grade and was finished by the time she could legally drive it. 

She'd driven the sedan until she traded it in for a two-thousand sixteen Impala on her twenty-fifth birthday.

She turned the kettle on and yawned as the next message started.

“Hey, Heath-bar, it's Mitch. Don't suppose I can convince you to come down to Texas for Christmas, can I?” Her college roommate cleared his throat. “I think you're about due for a holiday off. Maybe we should get together for New Years. Think about it at least, all right? Give me a ring when you get this.” She shook her head at the message; she knew that her friends meant well, but it was painful for her to be around families during any family-holiday. She could get through Thanksgiving and the Fourth of July with ease. Thanksgiving at the firehouse was awesome, in her opinion. Everything else was a different level of Hell. 

Christmas was the worst. 

Yet, like some sort of masochist, she always put up multi-colored strands of lights in the large windows that lined the front of her loft, put up a tree, and went all out on decorating for said holiday, like it wasn't a reminder that her parents were dead, her natural father didn't care about her, and she had lost all of her joy for said holiday years ago. Aunt Jodi wasn't that much different, having lost her son and husband – but they'd both tried while they lived together. But they couldn't regain whatever it was they both needed to to make their lives function any better on the holiday than to just get through it. They usually just made a ton of cookies and spent Christmas Day marathoning _Star Wars._

Heather groaned and rubbed the back of her neck as the green light on the kettle flicked on and she took a mug out of the drying rack by the sink, then opened the canister of tea, setting one of the Earl Gray bags in the cup before pouring hot water into it. “Take your days off, Kittridge. Don't show up unless we call you.” She repeated the Captain's words to her before she left this afternoon. 

The jarring sound of the intercom buzzer shook her from her thoughts and she frowned towards the door. “What in the world?” Leaving her tea to seep, she walked across the loft and the buzzer went again. “I'm coming, I'm coming...” She shook her head, “Hope it's not Nate or Mitch coming around here to try and drag me into merriment.” She hit the button. “Who it it?”

“It's Liam.” The voice on the other end had a familiar tone; one she knew – but hadn't heard in years. She couldn't think of a single Liam she knew – or rather, a Liam she knew well enough to have them know where she lived. 

“Liam who?” She glowered at the intercom box, wondering if the person had the wrong apartment. 

“Your brother, Liam. Uh... this is complicated but...” 

Heather slammed the lock open, not waiting for him to finish. “I know who you are.” She went back to the kitchen to retrieve her mug, fishing the teabag out just as there was a knock on her door. She set the bag in the sink and returned to the door, rather surprised at herself for remaining so calm. Then again, given how her introduction to the supernatural world went, this was almost mundane. “And thank you, for knowing better than to just let yourself in.” She mumbled and looked through the peephole, almost jumping back at the face looking right into it. “Oh, shit, he's obnoxious.” She undid the lock and peered around the door; the young man she'd only glimpsed once, years ago. “Liam Gabriel Winchester, I presume?” 

The dark haired half-angel gave her a grin. “And you would be Heather Grace Kittridge, correct?”

She backed away and held the door open. “Please wipe your feet.” She shook her head as he came into her home, noting that he was taller than her; almost as tall as Dean. His hair was brown, bordering on black; and then there were the eyes. Those brilliant, bright green eyes that were Liam's alone – the only one of the six children of Dean Winchester to have the same eyes as him. She lifted her chin as he shrugged out of his coat, struggling with the arms a bit. “Not used to that particular garment, I take it.” She took a sip of tea.

“No.” He frowned and looked from the empty hook to her. “It's okay, isn't it?”

“That's the one for guests, and that's what you are.” She shrugged, guessing he still sort of learning with social interactions. “You want some tea?” She turned and headed back for the kitchen, “Or coffee?”

“Tea would be great, thank you.” Liam coughed, and she saw him looking around her loft with uncertainty. What was he expecting to find here? “Sorry, I'm a little out of it... travel and all... what's today's day and date?”

Heather got down another mug and held out the tea tin for him to pick one. “It's Wednesday, December twentieth, two-thousand twenty-three.” she answered as he took the tin, frowning, “I take it you went backwards in time.” 

“Yeah. About twelve years.” He opened the tin and took out an Earl Grey bag. “That would make you uh... twenty seven?”

“Yup.” She leaned against the counter. “so that makes you what, thirteen?” She laughed at the look he gave her; given his physical similarities to Castiel, it was almost uncanny. “I get to tease because I'm the oldest. You get to get away with everything because you're the baby.” 

Liam started to make himself tea, not looking at her. “I still don't know how you know about me. Well, I knew how you, the other you, the one from my world did, but how...” He let out a breath. “That's funny that you mention thirteen because....”

“I know, I know.” She shook her head. “The reason I know about you is because Michael told me. While I was possessed by him fourteen years ago.” 

He whirled around, his expression horrified. “You agreed to that?”

She squared her shoulders, her eyes narrowing as anger flashed through her; and she could again remember that wretched afternoon and her fall from that bridge on the way to Uncle Bobby's house. “The other option was freezing to death with a broken back next to a train track in South Dakota in February. It wasn't that hard.” 

“Shit.” He hissed and looked down at his mug, then at her, his face suddenly concerned and contrite. “What the hell happened here?”

“Plenty. A lot of it extremely ugly.” She swallowed and managed a sorrowful smile, remembering what the last decade had been like. “Nothing like a string of natural disasters and two global pandemics that leave three and a half billion people dead to get mankind back onto a path that isn't going to make God get out his Magic Eraser. If what happened in the past twelve years wasn't that.” 

He gave her a look, and she could tell he was trying to recover from what she'd just told him. He shifted his gaze towards the window, then managed a smile. “It's almost Christmas. I see you're ready for it.” He walked over to the tree, and a moment later, he'd plugged the lights in, and she could see his smile strengthen. “Company coming?”

Heather rolled her eyes and took a drink from her mug. “I'd say you're the closest thing to it, Liam.” She followed him and stared out into the gray afternoon. “And why are you here? There must be a me in your world that you can go have conversations with.” 

He swallowed, and she saw him grasp the mug tighter. “You're dead. You ah...”

“I know about that.” She sighed. “You wouldn't come all this way for no good reason.” She frowned, shaking her head. “What, is there some sort of power-struggle about to take place in the fey realm and throw everything into chaos?”

“You know about that?” Liam turned, gaping. “How...” 

Heather blinked, surprised. She may not be into the whole hunting thing, but she kept tabs on what was going on in the community of things that most people didn't know about. “Well, it's the only thing that makes sense. If it was angels or demons, you could handle it. Monsters wouldn't be an issue either.”

Liam took a drink from his own mug. “It's something like that, yes.” He leaned against the overstuffed chair next to the window. “There's a fey by the name of Peltar. He's seeking to kill Oberon. You can imagine what that would do.” 

“Yes, and I've already got enough nightmares as it...” she frowned. “The fey realm is constant, it's exactly the same here as it would be in yours and... whomever else... “ She swallowed. “The ensuing war that would happen with Oberon's death would spill out into the human realm, starting with the path of least resistance. That's...” 

“Liesel's world, yes.” He shook his head. “It's not that her world isn't protected, but since it's the _fey_ we're talking about...” 

“I know, I know.” She took a drink. “And you're here, to pick me up, because Junta's not available and you need someone who is technically half-monster to make up the trio.” 

Liam nodded, then looked out the window. “I just don't... I'm still getting used to the idea that I have other siblings... I mean, apart from my baby sister.” He frowned, looking back her. “I don't understand how Gabrielle isn't the youngest.” 

“It's a humanity scale, or some other such nonsense.” she rolled her eyes. “To quote Obi-Wan Kenobi, it comes from a certain point of view.” She frowned, remembering that he might not understand the reference. “You do know who that is, right?”

He grinned at her, and she realized that while their faces were different, they both had the same mischievous smile. “Of course I do. Shouldn't everyone?” he paused. “You have seen the Kenobi movie, right?”

“Midnight, opening night. I hadn't bawled that much at a film since _The Last Jedi_. ” She drained the last of her tea, resolve washing through her. “Well, if we've got a war to stop, I need to make a few phone calls.” She headed back towards the kitchen. “I need someone to feed my fish while we're gone.” She paused and looked back at him. “You'll be able to get me back in time to work on Christmas Eve, right?” 

“If I can't, fairly certain we'll run into someone who can.” He came up and set a hand on her arm, causing her to turn and look at him. “You're agreeing, just like that?”

She shrugged, rather surprised at her own nonchalance. “What am I going to do for the next three days I have off? Laundry's done, grocery's done, and if I stayed here, I'd just have to keep screening phone calls from people trying to get me to go out.” 

“But you could go out. No one's making you stay, not that I'm not grateful that you agreed to help, but... why?” He shook his head, completely dumbfounded. “you make no sense, Heather Grace.” 

She grinned, “I know, isn't it great? If you want to see something really funny, you should see my collection of on-ride photographs from some of the most insane roller coasters on the planet.” She set her mug down, remembering the pictures in question. “I've got one with myself and about nine other people who were also possessed by angels during the Apocalypse on the Kinga Ka looking completely bored while everyone around us is screaming their heads off.” She let out a deep breath, then started to make herself a second cup of tea. “All right, so you had a plan for getting here, and I take you have a plan on getting to where we're going – do you have a plan for when we get there?”

“Sort of.” He set his mug on the counter with a thump and sat down on one of the stools. “I actually think getting Liesel to help us will be the hardest part.” 

“No, no...” She shook her head and went to the fridge, opened the freezer and took out one of the pizzas from within. “The hard part will be getting the Dean of that world _let_ Liesel help.” She looked down at the box and then at him. “We're having dinner before we leave.” She paused, “you do eat meat, right?”

“I haven't in a while.” He looked down at the box. “Actually, I don't think I've ever had pizza before.” 

“Then we're not having frozen.” She picked the box up and turned to return it to the freezer. “If you've never had pizza, you're having proper pizza, not Red Baron.” She pulled a menu out from under a magnet and held it out towards her brother. “You take a look at that, tell me what sounds good. I'm going to make a few of the phone calls I need to.” 

*

Liam took the menu, nodding. “Sure.” He was a little overwhelmed by all of this. He was already further along than he thought he'd be at this point. In truth, he was more surprised that he wasn't still trying to talk to her through the intercom, or having to result to angelic methods of getting her to listen than anything. He watched Heather go into a corner of the loft with her phone, and he chose not to listen in on her conversation. He scanned the menu, noting that there was a mark next to several of the toppings; pepperoni, mushrooms – onions. He glanced at the back of the menu, then did a double take. “Uh, could we get dessert?”

“You saw the cheesecakes, didn't you?” Heather laughed. “Which one did you want?”

“Oreo.” He grinned, remembering the delightful sandwich cookie that was, in his opinion, the best sweet ever created by mankind. 

“We can do dessert.” She came back into the kitchen area. “My uncle's going to loft sit for me. Uncle H is one of the few family members I have that won't mistake my fish for a snack.” 

Liam frowned. “Uncle H...” He blinked. “Hephaestus?” 

She gave him a slight shrug. “Yeah. I know, that probably sounds weird to you, or something.” 

“Considering some of the baby-sitters I had, I shouldn't talk.” He picked up his mug, and took a long drink of tea; it was strange how he had missed food, _real_ food. Normally, he would never have noticed the hunger, since he didn't need to eat, but now, now it was coming back to him. The sort of desire he hadn't had in, well, in a long time. “This is good.” He indicated the contents of his mug, then looked back at the menu, still resting on the counter. “I'm good with anything.”

“Sure. If you want to look around, I don't mind.” she set her phone on the counter and pulled the menu towards her as he walked away, going over to the wall opposite the window, where a television was mounted on the wall, and several framed posters hung on either side – and noticed something was off right away. 

“Why is Adam Driver on this _Avengers_ poster? He's not Captain America.” He looked back at her, confused. “Chris Evans is Captain America.” 

“Maybe where you come from. Chris Evans is Captain Marvel in the DC Universe” She shot back, laughing, “Driver's Captain America, he's Kylo Ren aka Ben Solo, he's Fitz Darcy in that punk-rock version of _Pride and Prejudice,_ and he's Alder in _Pendragon_. Which is kind of funny, considering that Hayden Christensen is Patrick Mac.” 

“He was also in that appallingly immoral show _Girls_ with Lena Dunham.” He shuddered, remembering the little he'd seen of the program.

“What's _Girls_ and who the hell is Lena Dunham?” Heather answered, and then her tone changed and he heard her on the phone. “Good afternoon to you as well. I'd like to place an order for one medium deep dish, pepperoni, mushroom, and extra cheese.” 

He heard her finish the conversation, ending with the dessert as he caught sight of a framed photograph, and it took a moment to recognize his sister; it was some sort of costume party, and then his brain caught up with what he was looking at. A group of people dressed as _Game of Thrones_ characters. The only person he recognized was Heather; the rest of the faces were all strangers to him. He put the frame back just as he heard Heather hang up. “Do your fish have names?” He'd keep this simple for now.

“Sure.” She answered and he joined her at the aquarium. “The Black Lyretail Molly is named Amidala, and the beta is Loor.” She set her fingers against the glass and Liam could see her expression shift slightly. “I don't have time for a cat or a dog. My schedule is such that fish are about the only thing I can take care of.” 

He watched the small creatures moving perfectly passive through the water, completely oblivious to any thing else, even each other it seemed. “We sort of have a dog. Well, it was a therapy animal when it was alive and...” He stopped, looking down at her. “Does it bother you to hear this?”

She took a drink from her mug. “No. And I have an idea of what we're going into.” She looked up at him, a small smile playing on her lips. “You do know that Liesel is the lucky one, don't you?”

He sighed, knowing how their sister got the name; and he took a sip from his mug as well. “I'm the Son of Chance, and you're the Daughter of the Hunt.” 

“You say it like that and it sounds cool. Or at least, more interesting than what it really is.” She smirked. “We're about to encounter a very strange Dean, Liam. And it's not the fact that he's deaf.”

“What is it then?” Liam nearly laughed. 

“The fact that there's a real possibility that he likes peaches.” She wrinkled her nose. “Odds are, you've got the nice Uncle Sammy, and I...” She made a face. “I've got a teddy bear with a hex bag in it that our grandfather gave me when I was a baby.” 

“Different roads, sister. Different roads.” He walked back towards the windows. “Care to unpack the baggage so at least we're on the same page when we get to Liesel's?”

She chuckled. “Well, we have about thirty minutes before dinner's here, so we may as well start. Winchesters who talk about things. What a concept” The two of them sat down in the large chairs near the windows, the Christmas Tree bright between them. It was a bittersweet moment, he knew that, and he could see the front Heather was putting up, but he knew that was how she survived. It was how all people in this family survived. “What's your dog's name?”

He grinned, remembering when he met the German Sheppard in question. “Scully. That's the name she came with.” He leaned back in his seat, wrapping his hands around the mug, letting the warmth suffuse him. 

Maybe this wouldn't be as bad as he feared.

*

A good night's sleep didn't do too much to improve Liesel's outlook on recent events. Not that the rest didn't help, and it was wonderful to be home, but at the same time, she still wanted to hit line drives into the athletic director's windows. She set Noroc down as they came to the bottom of the stairs, and she sighed, not wanting to think about how old her cat was getting. As she came into the kitchen, she found her dad eating breakfast, and studying a list. She tapped his arm, drawing his attention away from his cup of coffee. _“Good morning.”_

Dad smiled, _“Good morning, how did you sleep?”_

_“Very well. But I don't feel any better about the whole softball thing.”_ She went over to the pantry and filled the cat's bowl before getting herself some juice from the fridge.

“It's their loss.” Dad offered, giving her a smile. “You know that.”

She took a breath and closed her eyes, then sat down across from him at the island, taking a drink before answering. _“I know that, Dad.” She swallowed. “It doesn't make it any easier.”_

_“I know, Liesel.”_ He reached across the counter and squeezed her hand, giving her a wink. “Let karma take care of things.” He took another drink of coffee and rubbed his temple. _“In the end, it will all work out. You're just in the bad part of it.”_

_“Well, I'll do my best to be jolly for the holiday.”_ She took another sip of juice. _“So you're officially retired from the hospital then?”_

He grinned in reply. _“I've had enough of that kind of stress. It's exhausting, and I'm getting old, Lis.”_

_“Dad, you're only forty-five.”_ She grinned and saw him shake his head.

_“Almost forty-six. Besides, nothing wrong with teaching – and your grandma is retiring at the end of the school year.”_ He turned his attention back to his list and Liesel watched him for a moment before standing and going over to the pantry. She had just reached for the box of Cheerios when her ears started ringing. 

She backed away, holding her ears as the noise intensified, and she suddenly remembered the last few times she'd heard this kind of sound; back when her great grandfather appeared in her closet, and, earlier than that, when Castiel fell next to their house when she was in second grade. 

“Liesel?” Her father's voice sounded far away as the sound rose in pitch, and then, her ears popped, and things once again became silent. She heard a door slam open upstairs.

“What the hell was that?” David yelled, and then she could hear Bandit barking in the yard. 

Bandit was a whippet – he almost _never_ barked.

“I don't know.” Dad called, and a moment later, Liesel heard her stepbrother running down the stairs and saw him go straight to the back door, and outside. “David!” He said and he and Liesel followed him out, only to find David standing dumbfounded at the sight in front of them.

Lying on the grass were two people; one a woman with red hair and the other a man, well, he looked about Liesel's age, with dark brown hair. Bandit was licking the face of the woman, nudging her repeatedly and then the man groaned, before rolling onto his side, and let out a snore.

“Uh, Liesel, is it me, or does that woman look more like your dad than you do?” David sounded distant, like he was on the other side of the house and not right next to her. A dull roar had started in her ears, and the ground rushed up to meet her.


End file.
